well the exchange is there and works just fine as thepantsparty said and yes it is working with EC.
EC like real money in real life have been created to replace the barter. why should we need a channel or a forum section for barter if we have EC and exchange? with this two invations the economy is working faster then it used to work with bartering.

If we all live in boxes doesn't mean that my box is the same color as yours

That channel is predominantly used by players of Champions Online (CO), I play both STO and CO and I rarely see anyone posting to sell items in STO, I do see the occasional STO player looking to buy a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship or one of the other lockbox ships.

I heard there was an "Exchange" channel set up for trades in STO that you could try fedman70, but it doesn't seem to have many players which is probably due to lack of advertising/awarness raising.

With Neverwinter launching soon that Trade channel will have a 3rd playerbase that can use it, might be a good idea for individual STO/CO/NW Trade channels to be formed and set up instead of a generic "Trade" one I think.

Added via Edit - Since I was so off topic above: I've seen people starting their own trade post threads on the forums in the past, but they never seemed to pick up much speed. Many may say that the large majority of the playerbase don't read the forums so you won't get as many people seeing your post as you would like.

Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better in something or other.

why should we need a channel or a forum section for barter if we have EC and exchange?

F2P player (a) opens a lockbox, and receives a ship they don't really want.
F2P player (b) opens a different lockbox, and also receives a ship they don't want.
Neither have bought the EC cap unlock from the C-store, so can't sell them on the exchange without losing loads of EC.

(a) wants the ship (b) has.
(b) wants the ship (a) has.

A trade channel would allow (a) and (b) to meet up, and swap ships.

Trade channels are also useful for stuff that won't show up on the exchange, such as the commodities from the Winter Wonderland.

That channel is predominantly used by players of Champions Online (CO), I play both STO and CO and I rarely see anyone posting to sell items in STO, I do see the occasional STO player looking to buy a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship or one of the other lockbox ships.

I heard there was an "Exchange" channel set up for trades in STO that you could try fedman70, but it doesn't seem to have many players which is probably due to lack of advertising/awarness raising.

With Neverwinter launching soon that Trade channel will have a 3rd playerbase that can use it, might be a good idea for individual STO/CO/NW Trade channels to be formed and set up instead of a generic "Trade" one I think.

Added via Edit - Since I was so off topic above: I've seen people starting their own trade post threads on the forums in the past, but they never seemed to pick up much speed. Many may say that the large majority of the playerbase don't read the forums so you won't get as many people seeing your post as you would like.

I'm opposed in principle to a dedicated trade section on these forums itself, simply because of the potential for staff to become involved in disputes ("He started it! He promised me a Super Dooper Phaser Gatling Mk XX in return for a Bug ship, but he took the ship and ran!").

I prefer to use the in-game trade channel to make / check up on offers, and then when the other player meets me in-game, we use the "trade" window. In the latter, we can both put our items side by side so that we know the other party has the goods promised, and we have to both explicitly press the "agree" buttons before the trade can actually go through.